New entries this year include BuzzFeed's Jonah Peretti and Ben Smith, Vice Media's Shane Smith and Gawker's Nick Denton.

Why he matters: Factor has been the No. 1 cable news show in total viewers and in the 25-to-54 demo for 14 straight years. In the 8 p.m. time slot, O'Reilly's audience is bigger than CNN's, MSNBC's and HLN's combined. When not hosting, he's writing best-selling books, two of which — Killing Lincoln and Killing Kennedy — were ratings bonanzas as TV movies for National Geographic Channel. The third book in the series, Killing Jesus, was the biggest-selling nonfiction book of 2013 and will also make its way to Nat Geo next year. "We're rolling in the entertainment industry," says O'Reilly, 64.

Proudest accomplishment this year: "The Obama interview on Super Bowl Sunday," he says. "We got a lot of stuff on the record that had not been there and it was live with no wiggle room at all." The host says it was particularly important to challenge the president on alleged IRS and Benghazi scandals, and at-risk youth "getting pounded by pernicious entertainment," he says. "A few weeks after that he launched the My Brother's Keeper initiative and invited me to the White House."

How his rivals view him: "After 18 years on the air, they've tried everything to destroy me and it didn't work, particularly MSNBC. So now they're just resigned to knowing they have no realistic hope of winning the 8 p.m. hour."

What he does with a free day: "I like to be active," says O'Reilly, who enjoys ice skating and playing half-court basketball. "And I coach my son's Little League team. You should see it. I'm a throwback to the way baseball used to be. There's no whining and we get our uniforms dirty."